China News

 

 

 

 

All the top stories of the week 18th August

 

 

Brexit

Boris Johnson upped his No Deal broadcast game as the Rebel Alliance of cross party MPs united by the consequences of No Deal for the country.  The Alliance plans to bring down the Tory Johnson government and launch a General Election.

Another No Deal for the UK is coming. Top US Democrat Nancy Pelosi once again reiterated the fact that if Brexit threatened the Good Friday Agreement in any way then the much promised US Trade Deal by Trump and Johnson will not take place. This was in addition to stories arising that chlorinated chicken and other US food were high on the list while Brexit will decimate UK agriculture.

 

 

Politics

The cross party rebel alliance will not suffer the contempt for Parliament that Johnson is currently spouting. Their plan is to launch a No Confidence vote as soon as Parliament returns from its summer recess. Unelected Dominic Cummings has laid out a plan to try and push through No Deal before the Parliamentary and the judicial systems in the UK can stop it.

 

 

World

Civil unrest in Hong Kong continued this week as tension grew between protesters and the Chinese Government. Satellite pictures revealed armoured vehicles massing on the Chinese side of the border with Hong Kong along with threats from Beijing that China could take military control of Hong Kong in under an hour.

 

 

Middle East

Encouraged by Donald Trump, Israel took the widely criticised move of banning congress women IIhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country. This was widely seen as an attack on democracy by the rest of the world as well as in the USA.

 

 

NHS

Austerity and Tory cuts continue to take their toll on the beleaguered NHS. For the very first time in its history, patients are having to wait for more than 2 weeks to get a GP appointment.  This on the back of reports stating that GPs are misdiagnosing patients because appointment times are too short.

 

 

Environment

Arch Brexiter Arron Banks made jokes about yachting accidents as Greta Thunberg set sail across the Atlantic for a UN crisis summit on the Climate Emergency.  Greta has caused a major upturn in teenagers and children reading environmental books.

As Greta sails, scientists warn that micro plastics have already reached the Arctic and are contaminating the air around us. Not so amusing now, Arron, is it?

 

 

 

Stories of the week 9 September

 

 

Austerity

‘Father battling cancer whose benefits were cut because he was ‘well enough to make a cup of tea’ died aged 56 with just £8 to his name, his family says’. The headline says it all.  There are many kinds of austerity wrapped up in this from universal credit to NHS cuts in finding.  Again, the headline says so much more than we could ever say.

 

 

Brexit

‘Brexit’ became associated with unexpected and exciting situations this week.  None of them were what Theresa May or arch-Brexiters might have wanted or expected.

EU Chief Negotiator, Michael Barnier, rejected May’s Chequers plan and suggested a counter-proposal himself. He was not the only one to reject May’s Brexit plan.  Apart from Labour, DUP leader Arlene Foster, David Davis and other hard-line Brexiters rejected it too.

All this against the backdrop of millions of Leave Voters switching to Remain since the referendum in more compelling evidence for another vote.

To make matters even worse for optimistic Brexiters, China called the UK ‘Washington’s sharksucker’ and accused it of provocation by sending the Royal Navy into the South China Sea.  The UK’s support of the US put any post Brexit trade deal at risk, Chinese state authorities confirmed.

 

 

 

Politics

With continuing calls for a Scottish Independence vote and a second referendum, the Scottish National Party (SNP) have more paying members than the Conservatives for the first time. Labour still have the largest paying membership.

Membership of the Conservative party wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t growing. After the summer heatwave, farmers became increasingly unhappy with Michael Gove and the government’s inaction with any support.

 

 

 

NHS

Just at a time when the NHS faces a severe shortage of nurses, figures show a large percentage of student nurses are dropping out before graduating their courses. This at a time when there are increasing job vacancies and increasing reliance on agency nursing support.

 

 

 

Environment

Two environmental stories this week focussed on the letter ‘H’ – humans and hedgehogs.

Humans. We may become extinct. Since every major rise or fall in temperature in the earth’s history has resulted in mass extinction, climate change could be the time for human beings to be no more according to biologists.

Hedgehogs are disappearing fast.  In fact most of the countryside is devoid of any at all according to scientists.

 

 

 

Technology

If you can’t beat them, join them.  Addicted to smartphones?  Can’t stop swiping. Road signs could be put on the ground so people looking at their phones can see them and reduce the smart phone accident syndrome.